Lincoln police arrested nine people as part of a nationwide effort against prostitution and human trafficking.

Share

Shares

Copy Link

{copyShortcut} to copy
Link copied!

Updated: 6:51 PM CST Feb 9, 2017

Hide TranscriptShow Transcript

WEBVTT SULT HUNDREDS OF ARRESTS.KETV NEWSWATCH 7'S CAMILA ORTI IS LIVE IN STUDIO WITH THE BIG STORY AT SIX.ROB, JULIE, THIS MAP HAS FIFTEENSTATES HIGHLIGHTED IN RED - INCLUDING NEBRASKA AND IOWA WHERE SEVERAL AGENCIES JOINED THE FIGHT TO STOP SEX TRAFFICKING.I TALKED TO ONE SURVIVOR WHO WASTRAFFICKED RIGHT HERE IN OMAHA.SHE TELLS ME THIS COULD BE HAPPENING IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.PEOPLE JUST NEED TO OPEN THEIR EYES.>> MY FIRST, I WILL BE HONEST WITH YOU. I LAID THERE AND CRIED. >> SHE RECALLED THE FIRST TIME SHE WAS TRAFFICKED THE SEX. >> I KEPT MY EYES CLOSED, AND I DIDN'T MOVE. >> IT WEREN'T OVER. >> SHE WAS 14 YEARS OLD, AND HOOK INDEED A TRAFFIC RING RIGHTHERE. >> THIS IS THE LOT WHERE SHE LIVED WITH DOZEN OTHER TRAFFICKED GIRLS. THE CLIENTS MAY SURPRISE YOU. >> IT CAN BE ANYWHERE FROM YOUR REGULAR STANDARD CHILD MOLESTER,AND THE FATHER OF THE YEAR, THE BASEBALL COACH. >> THE WOMEN'S FUND OF OMAHA SAYTHAT THE CRIME IS HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT. >> THEY ARE SOLD FOR SEX EVERY MONTH. >> TO SHUT THEM DOWN, WRAPPED UPSUPER BOWL WEEKEND, RESULTING INMORE THAN 750 ARRESTS INCLUDING 29 SUSPECTED TRAFFICKERS AND 700SEX BUYERS. FIVE OF THEM HERE, AND ARRESTED IN LINCOLN. >> WE HAVE TO MAKE IT NOT OKAY, AND ACCEPTED TO PURCHASE SEX. >> SHE IS A MANAGER WITH THE WOMEN'S FUND. THIS IS IMPORTANT, BUT PUT ON HARSH PENALTIES. >> SHE INTRODUCED A BILL THAT WOULD DO THAT. >> YOU CAN GET PROBATION FOR TRAFFICKING OF A MINOR, AND LIFEIN PRISON IF YOU ABUSE A MINOR. >> MOST OF THE PEOPLE INVOLVED IN PROSTITUTION STARTED BEFORE THEY TURNED 21 YOU WERE ADDICTEDTO DRUGS. THEY TRAP THEM ON DRUGS TO KEEP THEM. >> DID THE OPERATION REVEAL ANYTHING ABOUT THE BUYERS?>> MOST OF THE BUYERS, WHITE, MIDDLE AGED, HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATED AND MARRIED WITH JOBS. >> I THINK THAT WOULD SURPRISE ALOT OF PEOPLE. YOU HAVE MORE RESOURCES RIGHT?>> GO WWW.KETV.COM. THERE'S A 24 HOUR HUMAN

National sex trafficking sting leads to arrests in Lincoln

Lincoln police arrested nine people as part of a nationwide effort against prostitution and human trafficking.

Lincoln police arrested nine people as part of a nationwide effort against prostitution and human trafficking.

The arrests were coordinated by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois.

Advertisement

Five individuals were arrested for solicitation of prostitution and four were arrested for prostitution.

Lincoln officers conducted an undercover investigation Feb. 3 at an undisclosed location. The effort was part of a nationwide human trafficking operation.

Police arrested:

Keidarryl K. Watson, 18, of Lincoln, for solicitation of prostitution

Alney R. Tobias, 24, of Troy, New York, for solicitation of prostitution

Adam J. Wheatly, 35, of Lincoln, for solicitation of prostitution

Christopher S. Moses, 35, of Lincoln, for solicitation of prostitution

Christopher A. Mirabal, 41, of Lincoln, for solicitation of prostitution

Tanisha D. Guevara, 20, of Lincoln, for prostitution. She was also arrested last Oct. 14 during an undercover operation.

Samantha A. Kelly, 33, of Lincoln, for prostitution

Talasia L. Lillard, 20, of Omaha, for prostitution

Dajae D. Richardson, 21, of Omaha, for prostitution and possession of marijuana

Meghan Malik, the trafficking project manager with the Women's Fund of Omaha, says most people arrested for "prostitution" are victims of trafficking.

The National Johns Suppression Initiative (NJSI) led to 752 total arrests, including 723 sex buyers and 29 pimps or sex traffickers.

The operation ran from Jan. 18 through Feb. 5 (Super Bowl Sunday) and included nearly 30 law enforcement agencies across 15 states. Both the arrest numbers and the participation levels were the highest to date for Super Bowl operations since the initiative began.

NJSI operations were conceived of and launched by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart in 2011 to bring further attention to the the sex trafficking industry. Since the operations began, the Cook County Sheriff’s Police Office and participating agencies from across the country have arrested more than 6,500 sex buyers and traffickers.

Cumulative numbers from the 13th NJSI operation are:

29 sex trafficking arrests

723 sex solicitation arrests (sex buyers)

$1,118,557 in minimum possible fines

86 adult victims recovered

6 juveniles rescued

In this most recent sting, data collected shows that most of the people involved in prostitution started before they turned 21, and were addicted to drugs. According to the data, most of the sex buyers are usually white men, at least high school educated, and middle-aged or older. Many are married and very few are unemployed.

Omaha trafficking survivor April Baker told KETV NewsWatch 7 that most people don't realize what's happening in their own backyards. The first time she was trafficked for sex was when she was 14 years old.

"My first time, I'll be honest, I laid there and cried," Baker said. "I kept telling myself it's almost over, it's almost over, it's almost over."

But it wasn't over for another year and a half, Baker says, after hundreds more solicitations for sex. She was hooked into a trafficking ring after leaving home, living in a house near 22nd & Leavenworth with about a dozen other girls being trafficked.

She says the clientele might surprise most.

"[It] can be anyone from your regular, standard pedofile, all the way to the father of the year, you'd think, the baseball coach," Baker said. "It's all kinds of people."

Organizations like the Women's Fund of Omaha say the crime is often hiding in plain sight.

"900 individuals across the state of Nebraska are sold for sex every month," trafficking project manager Meghan Malik said.

Malik says big stings like the NJSI are important, but more work needs to be done to discourage the culture and market needed for sex trafficking. She says harsher penalties need to be imposed on the buyers and traffickers, a mission Lincoln Senator Patty Pansing Brooks has channeled into a bill, LB 289.

"You can get as low as probation for trafficking of a minor, to now up to life in prison if you abuse the minor," Pansing Brooks explained.